Every once in awhile, I receive a press release that’s actually relevant for\u00a0this blog.<\/p>\n

Here’s one.<\/p>\n

Please read it and take heed.<\/p>\n

Survey Says: Many Independent Authors Have Escaped from Predatory Publishing<\/strong><\/p>\n

More than a quarter of independent authors who responded to a recent survey at IndiesUnlimited.com<\/a> said they definitely had, or might have, fallen victim to a predatory publisher before turning to self-publishing. The survey results were published on the blog this week.<\/p>\n

Indies Unlimited conducted the unscientific survey as part of its #PublishingFoul series, which featured true stories from scammed authors throughout the month of March.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough our 115 respondents were self-selected, I think our results are pretty accurate,\u201d said staff writer and former journalist Lynne Cantwell, who created the survey. \u201cFor example, 76% of our respondents said they had placed just one book with their predatory publisher. That\u2019s in line with what the biggest vanity publisher, Author Solutions, has said about its own business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly half \u2013 47% \u2013 of the survey respondents reported losing less than $500 to their questionable publisher. However, another 31% reported losing more than $1,000, and one author admitted to losing more than $5,000.<\/p>\n

Cantwell said it\u2019s easy to blame the victim for falling for these scams \u2013 but that\u2019s unfair. \u201c\u2018Buyer beware\u2019 only goes so far when you\u2019re dealing with a professional con artist,\u201d she said. \u201cSomeone new to the world of publishing is usually so flattered by a publisher\u2019s interest in their work that they don\u2019t even think to do a web search to see if it\u2019s a scam. And that\u2019s what these predatory publishers count on. That\u2019s how they keep their businesses going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twenty-eight percent of authors responding to the survey said they had reported their bad experience to an authority. Typically, reports like these are made to a state attorney general\u2019s office, or to a watchdog organization like Writer Beware. However, two respondents said they had kept the incident to themselves because they were afraid that their publisher would sue them if they complained publicly.<\/p>\n

Indies Unlimited co-administrator K.S. Brooks said the website decided to do the month-long series after hearing numerous stories from authors who had been scammed. \u201cSome of these stories just break your heart,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a ton of advice out there on the web about avoiding predators, but not many first-person accounts. So we decided to give these authors a chance to tell their stories, in the hopes that others would read them and think twice about signing up with a scammer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Indies Unlimited, we cover all facets of independent publishing, from writing and editing to publishing and marketing,\u201d said founder Stephen Hise. \u201cWe hope our #PublishingFoul coverage will be a resource for authors for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indies Unlimited has been named in Publishers Weekly<\/em> as one of the top six blogs for independent authors. The website is http:\/\/www.indiesunlimited.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Were you scammed by a “publisher?” Tell us about it in a comment.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Every once in awhile, I receive a press release that’s actually relevant for\u00a0this blog.<\/p>\n

Here’s one.<\/p>\n

Please read it and take heed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":20128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[555,556,557],"class_list":["post-6764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-author-scams","tag-dishonest-publishers","tag-publishing-scams"],"yoast_head":"\n